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January 27, 2014

Kindness - Day 4 Recap

Hello friends, How are you? I hope you are well.

I came down with a stomach virus the boys had over the weekend. My younger son started on Thursday night, my older one on Saturday night, and then I got sick on Sunday morning. I finally started to recover this afternoon. Our washer and dryer has never been this busy. Jello and camomile tea are my new best friends.

Day 4: I've explored the "interior" design of who I am in the first two posts of the kindness week (you can read them here and here.) On the day 4, I decided to take a look at my "exterior" design, which I also wanted to improve.

I've been told that I've long neglected myself and my look needs an intervention. That includes my make up, skin care, hair, and outfits. I think I'm ready for a change. When you look good, you feel good, after all. Shall we go on?

Here is the picture of me back in 2001.

Here's me from last fall, twelve years later.

Wow, what happened?

Getting married happened and raising kids happened. Studying for hours to attain a higher degree happened.

Back in 2001, I was living in Kyoto, just graduated from college. I had plenty of time to take care of myself. I always made sure that I looked flawless.

I also had my favorite hair person back in those days. He was an amazing hair stylist. When I moved to the U.S., I found an excellent hair stylist in NYC and I used to go down there on the regular basis just to get my hair done. My hair is a typical Asian person's hair, which is very coarse and hard to style. Ever since I saw my Japanese friend got her hair badly chopped by a local hair stylist, and I'm afraid of getting a haircut at a local salon. I get my hair done every time I'm back in Tokyo, NYC, or other big cities where I know there are good hair stylists. I know I'm weird like that. Where is Stephen Andrew when I need him? (My blogger friend Stephen Andrew is a talented hair stylist). So, I'll be on a hunt for a local hair stylist who can handle my temperamental hair.

In the meantime, I decided to do a few things to improve my appearance. 1) I will take a shower every day no matter what. I know this might sound ridiculous to some of you. But even taking a shower every single day became a challenge when I became a mother. My goal is to have clean hair every day.

2) I will put my makeup on, even though I work at home (I am a full time mom and a baby sitter to my niece).

3) I will go shopping and get a few stylish outfits that fit my style. I went to my pinterest board for inspiration.

9 comments:

Well thanks for the mention! I wish I could do your hair. I love Asian hair so much. But you are so right; many stylists are too unfamiliar with it to cut it well. Often stylists try to layer it and texturize it like Caucasian hair. Which as you know doesn't work because more consideration needs to be taken for the weight of the hair so it distributes well rather than all in one spot. In response to your question "wow, what happened?"First of all! You started a family in the past ten years. Having children means you are now living for someone else. When your focus is solely on keeping little humans alive, happy, healthy, fed, and entertained--there's not a whole lot of time left over for eyeliner. Nonetheless I commend you for your relentless self-editing. If you're able to find the time here and there to do little things for yourself I think you will definitely feel better. How you went 10+ years and two children without gaining a pound? I don't know.

Okay, I wrote down on my bucket list to "make a hair appointment with Stephen Andrew next time when I'm in Ohio." And yes, I think it's time for me to add a little eyeliner, and I have no idea why I didn't gain much weight after two kids. I guess it's the genes - I better call my mom and thank her.

yuko i will take all those looks. esp the long maxi.i will piggyback on mr. sa and add lipstick. when my 3 sons were small it was all i could do to keep up with them but a swipe of red lipstick instantly made me feel like more than a sahm. it still brightens my days!

you are beautiful inside and out with or without makeup as i'm sure you already know but a little self care goes a long long way for our well being.

Thank you Janet for your kind words! Yes, I need to get a new lipstick. The one I got this summer doesn't match my skin tone anymore (I was really tanned this summer). Your style inspires me and I'd love to participate in project 333 this year :)

Dear Yuko, I hear you about the asian hair. I have mostly asian type hair that you describe but with a bit of caucasian-y wave to it. I have a style that I call the "tousled" look (haha), in which I have a few layers near the face and keep the rest just past shoulder length. It is definitely a wash-n-go, I can't bare to spend too much time on it - not even blow drying it.

I commiserate on the goal of being able to get in a daily shower, having young children makes this goal luxurious! I find it does help tremendously with my mood though.

You are very fortunate that you are already gorgeous. No extra weight to take off, just the fun stuff like shopping for clothes or getting a new hairstyle. Have fun!

Sounds like you got my kind of hair style! And yes, it's so important to find ways to make us feel good, even that means taking a shower daily. When mom is happy, kids are happy. Thank you for stopping by!